HFF Brokers $59 Million Ground Lease of 177 Huntington Avenue

An affiliate of Beacon Capital Partners, LLC has signed a 99-year ground lease for 177 Huntington Avenue, an iconic 26-story office tower located in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, LP (HFF), a leader in commercial real estate and capital market services, exclusively represented the owner—The First Church of Christ, Scientist—and the trustees of Church Realty Trust in this $59 million transaction.

An affiliate of Beacon Capital Partners, LLC has signed a 99-year ground lease for 177 Huntington Avenue, an iconic 26-story office tower located in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood. Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, LP (HFF), a leader in commercial real estate and capital market services, exclusively represented the owner—The First Church of Christ, Scientist—and the trustees of Church Realty Trust in this $59 million transaction.

The 198,825-square-foot tower at the northeast corner of the Christian Science Plaza was designed by famed architects I.M Pei & Partners and Araldo A. Cossutta, Associated Architects. Completed 40 years ago to house the Church’s administration offices, the building (pictured at right) was fully occupied until 2008 when the Church relocated its headquarters into the nearby Christian Science Publishing House Building. Currently the office tower is 95 percent occupied and all the tenants’ leases will be maintained after Beacon Capital takes over the building.

“This asset was particularly attractive to investors due to its location and value-add components,” said HFF Managing Director Coleman Benedict, who led the negotiation team.

According to an official statement issued by HFF, this lease transaction is an element of the Church’s Plaza Revitalization Project, which aims to enhance open space, improve environmental sustainability and identify opportunities for underutilized real estate in the area.

In similar news, the Boston Business Journal reports that NAI Hunneman represented The Mackin Group in a long-term industrial property lease in Norwood. The 7,040-square-foot industrial property located at 661 Pleasant St. was leased by Crossfit Automile, a company that offers strength and conditioning programs similar to programs geared toward police academies and tactical operations teams, military special operations units, champion martial artists and other elite and professional athletes. Crossfit Automile will open the facility on September 3.